Shanghai Sigma Rises Secondary Al Alloy Output by 20% in March

Chinese largest secondary alloyed aluminium maker, Shanghai Sigma Metals increases the production by around 20% to 16,000 tonnes in March from February. The operation rate improves to 75-80% of the peak in 2008. The president Tony Huang said to a reporter of Japan Metal Bulletin on Thursday the domestic sales started to increase while the export is still slow mainly for Japan.

The firm’s production was 13,000 tonnes in February including 10,000 tonnes for domestic shipment and 2,000 tonnes for Japanese buyers. The production increases from 10,000 tonnes in January, which represented around 45% of operation rate. The demand improves when Chinese automobile production hit bottom in February.

The president said Chinese government tries to encourage more consumption in inner China by refunding 13% of purchase value of automobile and appliances and the action already impacts on the sales volume. The higher consumption supports secondary alloy demand.

The offer to Japan is CIF US$ 1,480 per tonne, which is US$ 10 drop from early February. The price is still low level when Japanese buyers’ appetite is low level. The domestic sales price is around US$ 1,547 without value add tax at plant site for cash transaction. The president expects with the recovery trend, the production could reach 18,000 tonnes in April while he expects Japanese demand keeps low level.